14 DAY TRIAL // By now, it's obvious that Ballmer is more determined than ever to turn MSN into the main competitor for Googe and Yahoo. Ballmer's sarcastic statements related to Google and to the searching concept from the last months "have received new reinforcements" during the annual meeting with the financial analysts.
Ballmer said: "We really are going to win on the Web... if you get nothing else out of the whole day today, we are very, very, very serious and committed about driving our presence with that community, versus any and all competitors in the marketplace. It is a big opportunity for us. It is a job-one priority for our company, this transformation to services and the competition that it brings with Yahoo! and Google and everybody else"
The only problem is that however, up until now, none of the products MSN has tried to counteract Google with are a real threat to Brin's and Page's company.
Microsoft's only strong point is the reaction speed. Every time Google has come up with a new project, Microsoft was there with a similar product.
The speed with which Microsoft is adapting to the fierce battle of searching technologies is the only thing Ballmer and the Redmond company can be congratulated for. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the quality of the products leaves a lot to be desired compared to Google's.
Regarding to Web searching, not even Microsoft's officials consider that they are better than Google, and at the same meeting with the analysts, Yusuf Mehdi, Senior Vice President, admitted that there's a long way to Yahoo and Google.
The last direct confrontation between the two giants (and we are not referring to the one which is going on right now between the courts of California and those from Seattle over Kai-Fu Lee's future) was between Google Earth and MSN Virtual Earth, in which the Redmond company failed to convince anyone that it can do better than Google.
Ballmer should know better than anyone that "wanting" is not enough; you have to prove you are the best.